Best Intentions
by AlexLone
Summary: The anger dissipated as he shattered the world of the younger man with tales of his family. Often times, expedient action is not the best action and the best intentions can break anyone.


I don't own any DC or CW characters or story.

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 **August 2018**

 _Rented Flat of Barry Allen, CCPD forensics analyst (currently seconded to Scottish Police Authority Forensic Services), Falkirk, Scotland_

"What is going on with your team?"

The voice shocked me. I hadn't been paying attention, caught up in a new journal article which was describing possible flaws in current DNA identification processes and suggesting alternative approaches.

A heavy hand came down on my shoulder turning me round.

"What the hell is going on with your team?"

Jay Garrick, the Flash of Earth-3, stood in my flat garbed in his customary uniform and furious.

"What do you mean?" I eventually managed to get out, "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? I'm here to find out why your team has gone freaking nuts, I'm here to find out why you haven't been doing anything about it."

"What do you mean freaking nuts, they are fine, just busy from what I know. Why would I have to do anything about it?"

The anger in his posture sagged away as shock came over him, "You mean you really don't know, you don't know what has been going on?"

I looked at him in confusion, "What has been going on? I thought that the metahumans in Central City had been quiet and the others were just dealing with routine things and busy jobs. I mean it was quiet before I got here."

He dropped into the other seat in the room, removing his winged helmet, the grey in his hair turning white in places. Placing the helmet on the floor next to him, he sat back up and spoke.

"Let us start again. With something easy, why are you here and not in Central City? Better question where is here?"

I leaned back in my chair, calm settling on me a bit, an easier question and one I knew the answer to.

"This is Falkirk in Scotland, this is my flat while I'm here. I'm on secondment to the Forensics Services of the Scottish Police Authority."

He looked puzzled, "Secondment, why would you leave Central City?"

"I was asked to by Captain Singh, he asked me to take a secondment to Scotland as a favour to him and that it would look good on my record. He said that an old acquaintance of his was looking to strengthen the international ties on forensics and that my work would fit in with what they were looking to do. It was also to allow me better access to some research groups working on virtual reality crime scene reconstruction and collaborative environments at Dundee University. Which I have to say has been really fascinating, I mean I know Star Labs has bleeding edge technology, but it's applied in such a limited fashion, and here is a group looking at repurposing and expanding the use of technologies for helping solve crimes. It's been amazing, and I've been able to have input into the research as an active forensics analyst, we are writing a paper on some of the problems on the virtual versus real environment and how to close the gap so that experts from across the world are no longer limited by geography. Not to mention the field work with the Scene of Crime Officers here…."

He held up his hand, motioning me to slow down.

"Sorry, I'm rambling on, but it has been amazing work."

"I get it, kid, I do. Having something beyond the speed is great, being able to help outside of super heroics but why you, no offence but you were an analyst in a city police department not a major expert or specialist?"

I could see the air quotes around super heroics and was a little offended at the question.

"I'm not sure, maybe because I was available. But it had been quiet on the metahuman front for two months before the Captain mentioned in, I mean I hadn't had to suit up and was able to concentrate on my CCPD work which really got me noticed. Hell, even Iris toned down the team training, even excused me from it as I was getting more cases at CCPD to review and analyse."

"Didn't you find that odd?"

I looked at him confused, "What do you mean, odd?"

"That the metahuman level dropped so suddenly, that after being so keen on training that your team would excuse you from it?'

"I'm not sure I get what you are trying to say. But with the caseload increase, team training just ate up time that wasn't there anymore, it was all I could do just to train myself. Had there been an emergency I would have be available. And we had defeated DeVoe and his cohorts, so I figured it was just a level of calm. It can't stay crazy all the time."

"I see"

Though the way he said, he really didn't get my logic and now I was beginning to get worried.

"I've been here four months now, and there hasn't been a reported meta problem or even a major crime spree problem in Central City so I figured that the team and CCPD were controlling things just fine."

He slowly nodded his head, his expression becoming a little more worrying to me.

"And how long are you meant to be here?"

"I'm meant to be here for six months, but with the research project and the new training for forensics they want to start trialling they have said they may want me here for another six months, maybe twelve more."

"Uh-huh, And how often do you talk to your team, your wife? Do you or they visit?"

"I did try to talk to them every few days and Iris every day but it seems with the time difference and everyone being busy, it doesn't happen as often as I want. And we haven't managed a visit yet, I keep offering to fly back for a week but either they have work or something comes up with my work here."

"Funny that, isn't it?"

"What are you getting at?" I was starting to get angry, "What is going on?"

"I'm now trying to get a handle on what is happening on this Earth, what is happening with you, to you. To try and get a grasp on the changes that have happened in Central City."

"Happened to me?"

"Don't you find your isolation here just a little odd?"

"I'm not isolated, I talk to them, not as often or as long as I would like. And I've made friends here, I have my training and I've taken up a few activities."

"Well I'm glad you are still training, I think we may need it. And you are isolated, your friends, your family, your wife have essentially hidden you away here."

"No they haven't, we are all busy people."

"How did Iris feel about this secondment, so soon after your marriage?"

"She said it was a great thing, a good opportunity to be recognised for my forensic work. That six months wasn't long and that she would visit."

"Ah, very encouraging then, and yet no visit"

"People are busy and it is a long flight" I retorted angrily.

"A long flight?" He practically laughed in my face, "A long flight, when Cisco could open a breach that would take a few second to pass through? How is that a long flight?"

"I, we, I mean," I faltered, why hadn't I thought of this, "I mean we can't impose on Cisco each time we want to travel"

I was trying to rally there, but even I could hear the hollowness in my voice, my argument failing totally. I slumped in my chair a little.

"I'm sorry, Barry, I really am but I'm trying to get to the bottom of this, it carried over to my Earth when I came for help with something from you and accepted the help of your team when they told me you were dealing with a metahuman problem in Star City." He looked at me with pity.

"When was this?"

"About 3 weeks ago"

"But I was here not Star City, why would they lie?"

"I don't know, Barry, I really don't know. That's why I've been trying to find you. I did some research on your Earth before coming to find you. Not easy when your team was hounding me in Central City, Keystone and other places. And then I found you here, using the Speed Force to track your actions."

I looked at him, now completely collapsing back into my chair, I could feel tears starting to well, my chest starting to tighten.

He continued, "There has been no lull since you left Central City, your team, if I can still call them that, have been operating all the time, making the papers with their exploits. And initially it was favourable coverage, but then turned sour, the coverage has not been good for them. Particularly when..."

"Why haven't I seen any of this? Why didn't they tell me?"

"I don't know, have you been checking online?"

"Yes, daily, phone and laptop. But nothing covering them has ever come up."

He indicated my phone, asking permission to check on it.

Nodding, I handed him my unlocked phone, a feeling of dread creeping into my already tight chest.

For a few moments he tapped away at the screen of the phone, a deep frown forming. He looked up noticing my laptop behind me on the desk. I passed it over to him, again he tapped away for a few moments and the frown remained.

"I can't pull up any of the metahuman or crime news reports I've seen about Central City, only the more general news. Who gave you these?"

"The phone was a gift from Iris about 6 months ago, the laptop was a loaner from Star Labs for coming out here as Iris needed my home one."

"Hmm, do you have any other devices we could try? Could we get these checked by someone?"

"We could try the library nearby, they have systems open to the public, I've never had to use them but I can get on them. I could take the devices to the police cybercrime unit, they may not be as wacky or fun as Cisco and Felicity but they know their stuff inside and out."

"How long would it take you to get the devices to them?"

"Not long, I could be back here in about an hour if they are able to do something then and there. Steph owes me a favour, and she's good for it, Nick and her could probably do a quick once over and tell me anything weird with them, why you think someone's tampered with them?"

"I think your team tampered with them." was the flat response.

I didn't want to believe it but something in me wanting to know.

"Go, do it now and don't let the devices out of your sight."

I grabbed a bag and stuffed the devices into it. I phased through the outside wall and sped to the building in Glasgow where I knew Steph and Nick would be that day.

God, the run felt good, when I ran I could imagine nothing was wrong, that Jay was wrong. I hoped he was wrong.

As I watched Nick and Steph run tests on my devices, I thought back over the last few months in Scotland.

It was so different to Central City, it is a small country and part of the United Kingdom. It was fiercely proud but at the same time couldn't help but take the piss out itself. At first just trying to understand the accents was bad enough, so many regional accents, the clearer tones of Edinburgh contrasting with the more rough but friendly Glaswegian voice. People from Glasgow can be amazingly friendly but at the same time can make a compliment sound like a threat, it's aggressive yet endearing. Then there is the humour with sarcasm, irony and dry wit combining with the oft outlandish personalities. It took me time to get it all, and I'll confess I still don't quite understand the Doric from up Aberdeen way.

The people have been kind to me, for the people I met through work and those at the different activities I've taken up while here. I'll confess when it is time to leave it is not going to be easy. Steph and Nick are good folk, both in their forties but full of vigour and intellectual curiosity. The men and women on the police force that I've worked with have for the most part been solid, it took me awhile to get used to the fact that the average police office here didn't carry a firearm. But they took me under their wings, a couple of them including me in their defence training, it was so different to how Oliver or the others viewed force. I think I was fortunate and fell in with the good police, Joe's counterparts in this country, who cared about their communities and took pains to protect people even from themselves. I'm thinking that the baton they use may be a useful addition to my equipment and the practice in subduing an offender was invaluable, how to minimise risk to you and them. Even without using my speed I felt more confident now.

There were so many people who helped me while I was here, encouraged me to try new things. I think the climbing has been the most fun. I can run up a building, but following the climbing routes, working out the moves, all without speed and looking for good technique over strength has made me more careful, more considered in my movements. I'm still not very good at it but the challenge, the mix of physical and mental agility required was so similar to my meta activities.

Asha, Mark, Evelyn and Charaka from the forensics services group have encourage me to travel around Scotland, taking me on trips at the weekends or days off to see the sights. Loch Lomond is lovely and the Cairngorms are amazing to go for a trek on. The sight of the deer running over the hills and mountains in the clear air is breath-taking, I remember wishing others could see it. The castles, the art galleries and the museums all capture part of the history of Scotland and once is not enough, I will have to come back to see things again.

And the terrain and the cities have forced me to work on how I use my speed, little by way of planned roads have lead to a strange mish-mash of road layouts, and little by way of pure straight line roads, the terrain off road constantly changing and shifting. My acceleration is vastly improved and my agility has completely changed. The immersion I've felt with the Speed Force has led me to new abilities, ones I want to pass onto Wally, Jesse and Jay if they haven't figured them out. I suppose the important one is that I no longer need the suit, I've learned to create a Speed Force barrier around myself, it lets me dip into faster and faster speeds moving like Savitar but without the need for armour as the Speed Force is my armour. It's amazing what you can learn by yourself when you have to. I suppose another thing is that I've stopped restraining myself, I no longer hold myself back, when I move, I move, when I punch, I punch with all the power and speed I can muster. I punched clear through a tree with no long build up and with little collateral damage. All this time, I've been holding myself back, when you can pluck a bullet out of the air how can someone really aim at you with a punch?

Nick touched my shoulder, startling me away from my thoughts. Both he and Steph looked quite grave. They handed me a report, I quickly read over it. They started to explain that a combination of programs had systematically blocked alerts, websites and emails about certain topics. In addition, outgoing messages were been selectively rerouted depending on target address and keyword analysis. They stated that whomever had done this had been in complete control of what I could view about certain topics and who I could contact freely. I got to the last page which they had put on people whose code signatures came close to the software on my devices. I scowled as I read through the twenty or so names, many of whom operated outside of the US, but two names caught my eye.

I thanked Nick and Steph, promising that we would talk soon and that they should file the report away safely, both digitally and a paper copy as I may have need of it in the future.

I returned to my flat. Jay had turned on my television and was watching a British comedy show, "Taskmaster", which he laughed quietly at as the participants variously failed or succeeded outrageously at a myriad of daft and inconsequential tasks while being mocked and praised by the Taskmaster comedian.

He clicked the TV off after I phased back into the room.

"You were right" I stated.

"I'm sorry" he replied, regretful sincerity in his voice.

He pulled out a laptop from under his chair, explaining as he did so that he had borrowed it from somewhere and needed to return it soon.

He showed me news snippets from the last six months, from the point my caseload had increased.

A number of headlines since I left on secondment stood out from the dozens available.

 **"Flash Missing as New Heroes Emerge to join Kid Flash"**

 **"Heroes Profiled - Vibe, Kid Flash and Frost"**

 **"Metahuman Crime Down"**

 **"Kid No More - The New Flash"**

 **"Building Collapses after Metahuman Showdown - Heroes Unrepentant"**

 **"Bystanders injured in latest 'Hero' Intervention"**

 **"CCPD condemns Hero Violence"**

 **"Not Justice - Acts of Heroes Condemned"**

 **"Vigilantes not Heroes"**

 **"Cruel Disfigurements - Condemned By All"**

 **"A Necessary Evil? - The Metahuman Vigilantes"**

 **"Death by Vigilante"**

I didn't want to read any of them. I didn't want to consider that my friends, my family, my wife were involved in this. That they had removed me from this, that somehow removing me had freed this side of them.

"I was replaced" was the only thing to come out, sounding hollow and frail. I had brought up an image of Wally, Kid Flash now The Flash wearing my colours, my suit tailored to him. I knew I didn't need the suit now, but it hit me deep and suddenly. "They side-lined me and replaced me, why?"

I sagged in place, Jay put his hand on my shoulder, "I don't know Barry, I don't know, but you can see the slide just from the headlines. This is what I meant, this is why I came and now I see you had no idea what was going on. I'm sorry that I'm the one to break it to you, the one who shatters your idea of home."

I skimmed another story about disfigurement, Shawna Baez sometimes known as Peek-a-Boo had tangled with the team. In the past, we had caught her and imprisoned her but she kept getting out. Now, she had made her last escape, I read with unease about how Vibe had disrupted a teleport with a breach and as she fell Wally had put power dampener cuffs on her. That should have been the end of it, but no, Frost had instructed her comrades to hold Baez down as she froze her eyes. The team had permanently blinded the criminal, they had her downed and they mutilated her, leaving her in darkness for the rest of her life, her powers useless. This was a cruel and unnecessary act.

I could feel the tears come, I ducked my head, my mind freezing as it tried to process all this information. It just wouldn't fit. Why? What happened six months ago, or has it been longer? Has something been there since when? When could it have been?

"Did something happen, Barry? About six or seven months ago?" he asked gently, not wanting to break the younger speedster.

"I don't think so, about 2 weeks before my caseload exploded, there was a major incident that we intervened in. We had to, it was a group of escaped metahumans and organised crime thugs we had put away three months prior. We took them down again but there were some injuries and there were some tempers flaring afterwards. Caitlin and Wally were arguing that we should have concentrated on taking out the bad guys and in doing so I wouldn't have been hurt shielding two hostages from bullets. I had argued that the hostages would have been injured or killed. I kinda don't remember a lot of the rest of it as the blood loss took it out of me. I remember vaguely some cursing and muttering about the futility of jailing crooks just for them to break out or be released and starting all over again." I looked up, "Do you think they thought me weak, that I was holding the team back? Do they think it is my fault the bad guys seem to keep coming back?"

My voice had gone quieter and quieter.

Jay knelt beside my chair, "I don't know what they thought. But you are not weak, it is easy to deliver summary punishment, it is quick and seems to solve the problem. To forgive, to rehabilitate, to want to see the best in people, that is hard and yes, it can be naive at times. Though you have seen the alternatives play out, you saw the dark road Oliver went down and still struggles with."

"Do you think Oliver knows?" I asked.

"Unknown, last information I could find on him, he and Diggle were dragged off to find some assassin hiding out in the South Pacific. Though, from what I've learned I doubt it, he felt you could be a better hero, not a shadowy assassin or killer."

"My friends, Iris, Joe, why?"

"Maybe they thought they were protecting you? I don't know, maybe they thought it wouldn't go this far, but I honestly can't say and I don't think they are in any rush to speak to me."

"What happened?"

"I came across three weeks ago to ask for your help, a villain calling himself the Puppet Master had recruited several powered henchman and was launching simultaneous attacks across the city area while taking over innocent civilians to act as shields. I couldn't stop them all myself so I came across to ask for your help."

"That's when the team lied to you?"

"Yes, they agreed to come in your place, Iris, Caitlin, Wally and Cisco all came across."

"Why Iris?"

"She was coordinating them, she brought some equipment and was acting as eyes and ears. The Puppet Master struck again. I managed to stop two of his henchmen, subduing them for the police. Then I heard the screams across the comms I was provided with." He moved across and slumped into a chair.

"I got there too late. The Puppet Master had kept some henchmen with him as he had found out about my crossing somehow. It didn't help. It was a massacre and it was cruel. Frost had frozen the legs of two henchman, then Vibe and Flash used their abilities to shatter the frozen limbs before Frost removed the ice. They bled out in moments. No warnings, no chance to surrender, just death. Flash severed the spinal cord of another with a knife moving so fast only he and I could see it in his hand. Vibe collapsed the lungs of the last one with his blasts. These were bad people, but they never stood a chance, it was so one-sided." his hands shook a little as he continued.

"The Puppet Master was attempting to flee, he pulled the crowd of bystanders to shield him. Vibe blasted the ground to stop them, Frost frozen their feet and Flash pushed them back to leave a path to the Puppet Master."

"So they stopped the bystanders from being hurt?"

"Only if the hurt was from the Puppet Master. Otherwise no, I later found out that eight people lost their feet to ice damage, another twelve suffered broken limbs and spinal injuries from the Flash pushing them and fourteen took the equivalent of bullets from the debris cast up by Vibe, including one child left blind."

I wanted to throw up but forced myself to listen.

"Iris was directing them, monitoring them as to where movement was, where the Puppet Master was headed. He was dragged back by Flash, the friction from the ground ripping the skin and flesh from his back, he cried out in pain. Vibe knelt down beside him, his hands near his ears as Frost stood over the Puppet Master, she only uttered a few words, then she froze and shattered his vocal cords as Vibe destroyed his hearing. I was horrified, it was brutal and as they congratulated each other I was sickened. I suppose that knowing people like Vibe existed had spurred my world to develop defences for my world, top engineers and scientists developed a device which could prevent his type of breaches from occurring and now I knew I needed it. I never thought it would be your team I would need to protect my world from but it was. Cisco can't breach to Earth 3, nor can any other breacher so currently only the Speed Force can transfer to that world."

"What happened?"

"I threw them out, we have variable power dampeners now, only a few of us can activate them to full strength but I'm one of those people. They weren't prepared for me as I slapped the devices on them, their powers now useless. I dumped them back through the Speed Force, it drained me so much work which is why I've been slow in getting to find you. I warned them that none of them can ever return to Earth 3, that they are wanted criminals now (or at least once the police got into action they were deemed as such). In the lab, Joe pulled a gun on me demanding that I remove the devices, they all argued that I had no right to chain their powers as they provided me with the help I asked for. I warned them they were going down a dark path and that actions have consequences. I removed the devices and vanished back into the Speed Force before they could catch me. Thankfully the new Flash doesn't seem to have a knack yet for transferring between worlds. And then I began my search for you."

I was floored, utterly shocked and confused at what had happened in only four months since I left or had it been going on for longer? Had I been too blind to see the changes around me? Was I too naive in my approach?

Neither of us spoke for twenty minutes.

"What now?"

Jay looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to answer my own question.

"I guess I go home then."

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Feedback and Comments welcomed.


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